CH 60 (opening the cage)
Patchwork
Running back into the castle to grab something we can use as a stopwatch I asked one of the ponies I ran into if they could help. By the time I returned to the sparring circles, which took approximately twenty minutes (according to the old-fashioned alarm clock held in my magic), I chuckled at the changeling queen who was lying down in the same place I left her, head resting on her forearms, and humming a happy tune to herself.
“Got it!” I announced my arrival while using a button on the back of the clock to set up an alarm, “What do you think? Five minutes?”
“Five minutes for what, exactly?” She stopped humming and I could see only her right eye open and follow me when I got close to her.
“The sparring match?” I still held the clock in my magic, but I stopped the setup until she acknowledged the event… again.
Sighing she started slowly getting up, stretching all four visible limbs, and lastly followed by a loud buzz from her wings, “Are you certain of this, Patch? I need to ask again.”
“Yes, I am,” Frowning and pursing my lips I hit the alarm clock and placed it outside of the ring before I hopped twice until I stood about three meters away from her. Lowering myself down into a fighting position, ready to pounce, I took a deep breath through my nose and let it out through my mouth, my mind focusing on the here and now.
“Very well,” only slightly widening her stance, Chrysalis ignited her horn, but only slightly, “begin when ready.”
I lunged at her, claws forward and I saw flames of transformation lick at my body, but then a strike interrupted me halfway through the jump. Curling into a ball, I practically saw the air leave my lungs, and I barely had the time to grunt (let alone get any airtime) before a green flash, followed by another, stronger, strike came from the left side, hitting my ribs and slamming me into the ground.
I think I bounced twice, but the pain from my stomach and ribs made any pain that followed barely register properly.
My chest burned, and I had to force myself into a quasi-stretch before I managed to inhale as much air as I could before my lungs cramped again. That gave me enough time to clear my head a bit and fall back on a trick Shield taught me if I find myself in such situations; small, measured breaths, in and out…
A shadow fell over me and I felt myself gently rolled to the side as Chrysalis’s worried face took over my entire vision. She searched for something, her eyes darting all over, and, after a moment, her features scrunched up and I could feel the pain ebb away as my muscles relaxed. A quick lookup showed me her glowing horn, answering that question.
“Ever… heard of… taking it…” I tried to get out as my chest finally settled, “easy?”
“That was me taking it easy,” she sighed, cupping my head with her claws, and placing a soft kiss just beneath my horn. “I did warn you.”
“I know you did, but that still felt like too much,” Going through my body with my internal senses I didn’t find any leftover damage, so I stood up, prompting Chryssy to do the same. Grabbing the alarm clock, I turned off the alarm before it sounded off, “Husk never hit me with such a force… and I know for a fact that Celestia never actually used her full arsenal of spells and powers during our spar…”
“I am not Celestia,” She stated matter-of-factly, “as far as Husk… I made myself a complete nuisance during that event, and even more so, Husk used up massive quantities of her magic to keep this body from eroding into nothingness due to hatred.”
She took the clock out of my magic into her own and placed it outside of the ring before moving to the same starting distance I set in the beginning facing me with a frown.
“Furthermore…” she continued while I confirmed my suspicions about the fight with Husk, “the minotaur king will not be holding back during your duel, and you wished to spar in order to better prepare yourself… correct?”
“Right…” I lowered myself down into a pouncing stance, “So just out of curiosity… where do you stand compared to Celestia?”
“I do not know,” she shrugged, “I never met her directly. But, for now, begin when ready.”
This time I didn’t pounce recklessly, studying her as I looked over my options. Her horn is again ignited, but only lightly, and her own stance didn’t tell me much, but since she hit like a truck… somehow… I’m guessing that defense would be the better part of the offense.
Twisting myself around to the right, I let my transformation loose shifting myself into a smaller (but no less armoured) ankylosaur, with the form settling in just as a strong attack to my right side pushed me to the left. The heavy-set plates absorbed most of the impact, but there was still enough force there to change the trajectory of my tail swing making it miss as I didn’t feel any striking feedback.
Chrysalis’s attack also allowed me to let my momentum carry me back which got me to face her again.
Swinging her head in a downward motion I had just enough time to transform again into an otter as a thick, barely see-through pocket of air slammed into the ground right where my head was a moment ago with enough force to crack it and kick up dust. The soft particles barely even had time to settle before they were cleared away by a pulse of her horn.
“That was… impressively fast shapeshifting,” she commented, clearly surprised, but not enough to stop her from attacking again, this time doing a quick twitching motion in a reverse nod.
The moment I felt air gather under me I started moving, shifting into a xenomorph, and closing the distance between us as swiftly as I could.
The alien transformation certainly caught her of guard (if her step back and hanging mouth are any indication), but she clearly wasn’t as stunned as I was when a blaze of green fire took over her form and a manticore claw came down knocking me to the ground.
Rolling out of the drop I shelved my surprise for later as the manticore released a roar and pounced.
Using the alien’s nimble body, I managed to scurry under the red scorpion cat, but not without interruptions as I was forced to veer right to avoid a swipe with her tail.
Taking the opportunity provided, while she was recovering from her pounce, I shifted into a large, plated rhinoceros (the extra heavy plates would protect me from any surprises) and charged giving my muscles an extra burst of speed with magic to reduce the distance between us as fast as I could. Not fast enough though.
Just before I managed to reach her, I noticed a curved horn pop out of the manticore's forehead and a thick, green shield sprung up between us. I had no intention of stopping though, and I slammed into it with enough force and speed that Chrysalis had barely any time to anchor it, cracking the shield and piercing it with my horn.
Continuing my rush, I pushed the shield into the wide-eyed manticore who flashed back into the changeling queen and her horn glowed brighter as she tried and failed to anchor the shield. She didn’t even have time to brace when the shield smashed into her, with my horn missing her shoulder by a couple of centimeters.
Twisting, and then rolling to the side as the shield shattered due to the impact, and Chrysalis’s interrupted concentration, she managed to avoid my continuous dash and subsequent trampling. I had to immediately transform into a smaller shape though (a falcon), as my ‘shield slam’ would barely even shake her, but her positioning would allow for an unfettered attack on my side. This proved correct when several dense bullets of air whizzed past me as I made a tight turn to the right while keeping an eye on Chrysalis to the best of my abilities.
I used up quite a bit of resin, but I still have enough for one more, larger, transformation, and I put it to effective use.
With the direction of my turn, I would end up directly in front of Chrysalis in a moment and a few lucky dodges ensured exactly that.
Based on her head movement when she uses magic, I noticed that she tries to manipulate the surrounding air, rather than casting actual spells, in a way that leaves little useless movement (at least in my eyes). So then, when she raised her head after one of her attacks missed, I guessed that the next attack would come from above. I needed something nimble enough for an attack but protected enough to get through her attack… or I could try to interrupt her again. A warrior would be a viable choice.
As I shape-shifted into a powerfully built Tyranid warrior (as large, and basic looking as I could make it… roughly two and a half meters high) the brief pause in her channeling, followed by a shocked gasp, gave me enough time to get closer to her and swipe at the side of her head with my claws held tightly into a fist (I did not wish to cut her).
The moment my fist connected to her head I knew that simply punching would barely matter, and the fact that she barely flinched cemented it. But I wasn’t finished yet, and this body is far stronger and versatile than it initially looked.
Widening my stance and making sure that I was as stable as I could be, I used the initial twist in my body from the punch to get more momentum and swung to the right with an open-clawed hand. She didn’t even manage to turn her head fully to face me when my left claw hooked her head right above her neck, lifting her surprisingly heavy body off the ground and slamming her down as hard as I could, cracking the ground under her bulk.
I had just enough time to hear a painful yelp from her when her attack, which I thought I interrupted, hit me to the left side of my monstrous head with enough strength to bury me into the ground. If I hadn’t designed the head and neck to be as thick and strong as I did, there is a good chance something important would have broken. As it was though, I changed into myself and continued lying on the side with my vision swimming and my head painfully throbbing. I had such a tough time focusing on anything that I couldn’t even enjoy the landscape my head was facing until a wave of soothing, gentle magic washed over me, reducing the throb of pain into something easier to ignore and my vision refocusing with a snap.
Noticing that I am on my right side, I lifted my left arm and ran a claw along the left side of my head and muzzle trying to feel for any leftover damage as it sometimes tends to persist even if I shapeshift. Luckily, there is nothing, or if there was, the healing magic sorted it out.
“What kind of monstrous creatures are these, my son?” Chrysalis asked and I could feel her lying down and leaning against my back. With her clear voice making my left ear twitch I lifted and turned my head just enough to see where she was.
Confirming that her position is parallel to mine, lying down on her legs, I let my head drop back down to where it was.
“Created by humanity, adapted by me,” I mumbled out just loud enough for her to hear.
“Created?” There was a slight panic in her voice which made me smirk.
“Not in the way you think… More like… imagined, than actually created,” I heard her let out a relieving sigh as well as felt her muscles relax along my back.
“How… did you manage to create such transformations? They don’t exist in our world, there is nothing to learn and…”
“Experimentation and application of what I know. Using the knowledge I have of other creatures and combining it into the monstrosities you saw…” A quick glance told me that I had her undivided attention, “Once I realized how the process of transformation works, a bit of practice gave me quite a repertoire of things I can change into. I must be very careful with most of it though.”
“How so? Too dangerous?”
I nodded my head, feeling the dust and dirt shift under my right cheek, “in more ways than one. At some point during my battle against Husk, I transformed into something called a Swarmlord. If Husk couldn’t shield herself properly, I could have cleaved her in half… I wasn’t thinking straight at the time, only of victory.”
That was a mistake that could have cost everyone greatly.
“I would actually like to see this ‘Swarm Lord’,” She spoke, and I turned my head around as much as I could, wide-eyed. “What? If what I have seen so far is so unique and powerful, I am curious about what other kinds of monstrosities you can shapeshift into.”
Her matter-of-fact tone and shrugging only made my surprise greater, but I decided to just go for it, nonetheless.
“Yeah, sure,” this time I shrugged, rolling onto my belly when I ensured my head was clear and my body pain-free. I did stand up slowly, just as an extra precaution. Just because I couldn’t be knocked out doesn’t mean that I couldn’t get dizzy.
“Wait? Right now?” Her shocked tone only made me smirk.
Opening my wings I took flight, lifting myself up high enough to survey the area; I needed a large enough rock as I did not wish to ruin the spar rings.
“Yeah, why not?” I’m high enough that I had to raise my voice. Spotting a two-meter large boulder a bit further away from the castle, I smiled buzzing forward so that I could pick it up without overstraining my magic with distance.
I did not hear her response but when I returned, boulder in tow and sweat forming on my brow (it is fairly heavy), her worried face did make me roll my eyes which changed a worried crease into a firm frown.
“Don’t worry about it. I got this,” I grinned letting the boulder drop with a crash.
“I am not worried about your shapeshifting abilities my son, but rather the reaction of our changelings.”
“Bah… you worry over nothing,” I waved her with a snort and clawed wave before landing on the chunk of rock. I made a show of tapping and checking my landing spot before I nodded with purpose and saturated the rock with as much magic as I could without causing it to glow.
“What are you doing?” She asked and I lifted my head along with an eyebrow.
Chrysalis approached, confusion clear on her face, and started poking at the boulder in front of her with a claw in various places.
Letting out a loud gasp at her brazen attitude I started swatting at her claws more for theatrics than anything, “Hey! Back of! This is my rock!”
She didn’t understand in the beginning, but as soon as she saw that I was messing about she huffed, raising her snout as high as she could, before stepping back a fair bit of distance.
“Fine!” Chrysalis made her tone as haughty and nasally as possible, “But you and that piece of stone better provide adequate entertainment.”
“Well then,” I let my inner fire build-up, preparing for a bit of spectacle, “prepare to be wow-ed.”
Sitting up, and wobble a bit as I settled my balance, I rubbed my claws letting out a malicious cackle before I let small turquoise embers lick at my chitin. Lifting both of my claws as high as I could over my head, and buzzing my wings for extra support, I grunted pulling my claws down and slamming down at the rock releasing all the heat that I let build up in a torrent of flames that managed to engulf both myself and the stone under me.
I didn’t see her reaction, I kept focused on the transformation, but I did hear her yelp. Smirking inwardly, I decided to up the ante by letting the transformation play out bit by bit instead of just going at it. It took quite a bit of effort to do so, and I started feeling the mental strain quickly.
First, the mass started forming… growing, and I started with the carapace, the back ridges, and the tube-like growths as the fire flared out. The details of the body, invisible to her, quickly took shape and I’m relieved that I didn’t have to spend hours trying to set everything up like I had to do in the beginning almost a year ago.
Once I got sufficiently tall and bulky, I let the tail burst out of the fire, long and flexible, covered in sea-blue plates with pinkish, white skin underneath. Ending in two-pronged claws, I waved the tail around snapping the two claws whenever it pointed in Chrysalis’s direction.
Feeling the strain during the show-off I had to bring things to a close, so while she couldn’t see the legs from the fire, I let the four thick arms explode from the center, brandishing four long, curved, thick blades that while plain to look at are sharp enough to cut through anything if I used enough magic. Covered in sea-blue plates with pale pinkish skin underneath, I flexed the powerful arms, bringing them close to my chest (blades included), and then, with an explosion of fire, I threw my arms wide letting out a magickly enhanced, ear-piercing roar that cracked the ground around me as I showed the world at large the power I now wielded. Of course, I’m hidden away from the world behind a massive castle in the middle of nowhere (Badlands) but it’s the thought that counts right now.
I let the moment linger, savoring the shouts of surprise I heard in the distance while I held the pose for a few seconds. But when I looked down at Chrysalis the reaction was not what I expected.
“Oh, my skies and stars, you. Look! AMAZING!” The high-pitched squeal and excited hopping in place were not on my reaction lists. The imitation of Pinkie Pie is spot on though, large toothy grin included.
“EH?” I could see a mass of changelings exit the castle out of my periphery, but my sight was squarely focused on the giddy queen in front of me.
“Oh, you look so fearsome,” Zipping around me at speeds that I found dizzying she started poking and prodding at the plates and flesh alike, “And the plates feel so strong! What… how did you? Dragon scales, it must be it. I thought all the transformations you used were mere copies, but oh my goodness this looks so real and so amazing…”
The rambling kept going on and on, and I just let my arms drop in exasperation, letting out a sigh as well just to show my disappointment with the current situation. The thirty-odd changelings in light armor and two in heavy, stopped just shy of the dueling circle and watched with either fear or bemusement as their crazy Queen poked at nearly every single part of me… it’s embarrassing. Thankfully, some lings figured out what was going on, leaving with either a smirk on their muzzles or a shake of their heads.
“Are you DONE!?” I raised my voice after about five minutes of letting her poke at me without stopping or slowing down. Not to deny the demigoddess though, from what I managed to deduce from her rapid rambling she managed to guess a fair bit of my transformation process, but not enough to get a clear enough picture.
Finally deciding that enough was enough, I changed back into myself after I noticed that she was either ignoring me or fully in her own world and by then, all the changelings had dispersed. Dropping from almost four meters down to about a meter and sixty-five centimeters did nothing to slow her down as by the time the fire fully died out she almost teleported in my face, practically smashing our noses together.
“Youhavetoshowmehowtodothat!”
“Excuse me?” I pulled my head back slightly, trying not to laugh at her manic grin and the sparking eyes.
“Teach me. Show me. Explain it to me,” For every word I took a step back, and she took a step forward keeping up with me, “I want to be able to do at least half the things you can, and I never had time before my incarceration to ever learn more about it. So please, teach me!”
“Umm… sure?” I barely finished the sentence before she scooped me in her arms and squeezed me to the point my shell started creaking. “Under one condition though,” I managed to croak out.
“Anything!” She readily agreed. Putting me down with surprising gentleness given her excitable state I nonetheless took two steps back leaving her bouncing in place.
“Teach me how to fight better as a changeling.”
She stopped bouncing and frowned while looking at a spot above me, deep in thought.
“We have barely two days left,” she spoke after about a minute of thinking. “I’m not nearly as proficient of a fighter compared to Celestia, my son. I do not have the experience she has acquired over the centuries.”
“True,” it isn’t hard to agree with that statement, “but you have been a changeling far longer than I have. I wasn’t even born a changeling to begin with. I’m certain there is quite a bit of learning and training we can squeeze in two days.”
“Very well, Patchwork. I would suggest you prepare yourself; the next day and a half will be quite painful.”
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Thanks for the update ♡
Good night, sleep well defraud.
That chapter was amazing, Chrysalis pulling off a Gorilla versus Tirek would be amazing ♤♡
Wonder which would be more destructive. Chrysalis as her version of Godzilla, or one of the Artillery Bugs from Starship Troopers?
I can't help but laugh at the image of a "bug-eyed" Chrysalis doing the Happy Dance with a giddy grin
he expected terror and concern, not excitement, poor Patch~
I am loving how the mother/son dynamic is strengthening. Gives me the warm fuzzies. Always loved the motherly queen versions of her far more, rather than the warmonger tyrant.
I'd still like to see something like the Odogaron, a heavily scaled and hide canidform with long jaws, and two sets of claws on each leg, one false built for traction, and one true meant for cutting deep, above the false and retracted backwards. Faster than the size suggests, it is a whirlwind of pounces, swipes, and bites. Almost blind it manages to navigate through smell and sound alone with terrifying accuracy.
Or the Deviljho, a giant hulking mass of muscle bursting at the seams and covered in small spines and two jaws with teeth spilling out of the maw. It lacks any subtlety and goes for raw strength and bulk to make a meal out of whatever it sees fit. Using it's neck muscles it can pick up and slam anything smaller than it into the ground, and throw them a great distance away whenever finished with its attack.
Or the Tigrex, another powerful beast with huge lung capacity and a wild charge. While it has wings it does not fly, but it can leap long distances and slam it's mass into targets, or use the same to slow and stop creatures much larger than it dead in their tracks. An unrelenting force of nature, it can also roar loud enough to shatter glass, staggering any that stood too close.
Honestly Monster Hunter is rife with suitable creatures that could throw their weight around, and many were chimeric creatures based on those from Earth, making transformations relatively more easy than those of xenological nature.
Hive fleet Hydra?
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Provided that bug-eyed cartoon version looked hilarious (you know, before her throne popped)
DODGE!
Isn't everything HR Geiger makes a nightmare vagina-monster?
11704725
Creatures from Monster Hunter might be a bit difficult to describe since the designs can get pretty elaborate. You're still right though. There's a lot of stuff to potentially transform into.
Anything from somehing wackier like paolumu that has an airsac it can inflate, to something prettier like mizutsune the bubble dragon, to any number of powerful and/or terrifying beasts.
Hehe, got a taste of overwhelming force. Gotta get more agility!
Chrysalis gushing over the technical marvel is adorable.
11704918
You're right, some of the designs are pretty elaborate, but more modern monsters like Anjanath are pretty clear, a tyrannosaurus with an underbite, large teeth, black furred back, and pinkish skin. Then, an inflatable, wrinkly, inside out nose on the top jaw when smelling for prey or predators, and two dorsal sails that can appear on its back when enraged. Seems pretty simple to me.
Girros is just a komodo dragon with the head of a king cobra, black scales with yellow accents, and fleshy gills in the hood and neck when roaring. Deviljho is largely a giant angry pickle with a few spines and a lot of teeth, and can be written as a hulking mass of muscle and hunger.
What would you recommend for a creature?
Seriously Patchwork needs to pull a Alfa Albino Deathclaw transform, it would be terrifying to me....
11704646
Mama buggo would be destructive enough just being her own kind of nice.
Was like Whis vs Goku!
Time for a training montage.
11704725
I've never played Monster Hunter games. Heard about them and seen a few pics... Oh boy am I going to sink my teeth into these beasties.
Crazy mom = crazy. I dig it.
It would be interesting to see if Patch could evolve his body even farther in the future. Good chapter!
Awesome chapter
i am legit painting a crysilis themed hive fleet at the moment. the black and green and all that. its turning out bangers.
11705809
I want some pics of those when they're done please. It sounds amazing.
11705838
trying to get the colors right is a ballache. but i have my scheme. black body and carapes. green joints. but also inbetween the black carapes layers im doing green blowing highlights.
Cryssy being a 40k fan of the nidz cheked 10/10
11705283
The series isn't for everyone, but for those wiling to try it is worth the experience. If you want to start out, Rise and Sunbreak (latest title) makes it the most accessible. But World and Iceborne generally look and feel better, even if they don't have all the streamlining Rise and Sunbreak do.
Ask around your friends, maybe one of them is a hunter, and if they're a good hunter they'll be chomping at the bit to teach you everything you need to become a hunter yourself, but leave it to you to learn how to adapt and grow as a hunter on your own. The games have always been about learning your limits and surpassing them, but always being open to sharing the experience with others when you aren't ready to go alone, or know that you cannot do it alone.
And if you don't have any hunter friends... make some new ones! There's many experienced hunters who remain just to teach newcomers how to play, and to share in their craft of various weapons and strategies. The best hunters will walk you through it all, and without a single derisive laugh, because they'll have been where you are, and they'll know and remember.
But most of all, unless you know what to do, take in the experience. Treat it like a hike. A marathon, not a sprint. Get started, get some distance at your own pace, stop, put it down, come back to it after a bit.
And for the love of god, ignore the movie. It's a total mess. MH would be better as a series, and the structure of hunts is more episodic than anything a film can portray.
I am liking the new fun happy Chrysalis.
a amazing chapter.
11704903
Well, some of them are cock-ridge monsters...
Aaaand another Nid player was born.
Here's something I could see being a thing. MH's Glavenus. I'd describe it in detail, but I'll say this, and leave the rest to the video. It's a T-Rex with a carnosaurus head, and a sword tail.
Not the most complex, but a hell of a thing to fight. I realize I'm just sharing monsters, but MH has a lot of creatures that are chimeras of real animals, which is something Patchwork should be able to recreate with his method rather easily.
Eventually I see him creating his own creatures to baffle and confuse, combinations of other creatures he's seen or heard of, constantly experimenting with new ideas to fight, dodge, confuse, and avoid detection entirely.
11704903
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Than again... Kinda?
OH! Another HiE I haven't come across yet, FINALLY!
(Also, no shade, but isn't it goofy how every changeling story has to have 'change' in the name somehow? I kinda love it kinda hate it lol.)
11716006
...what even is that?
11704903
Half all the other's are monster cocks!
Badass.
She's so excitable I love her! She's adorable aaaaaa I wanna HUG HER!